Many medical surgical procedures presume a clean operating environment. For example, the technicians and medical-services providers in the operating environment are typically garbed in antiseptic gowns, gloves, foot coverings, face masks, and so forth. Hand tools and other equipment and supplies pertinent to the procedure are similarly sterile.
In many cases, various artifacts to be used during the procedure are arrayed on a support surface such as a table that is positioned convenient to the attending medical personnel during the procedure. These tables are often known as “back tables.” To avoid sterilizing these back tables (or, in the alternative, to avoid using a new, sterile, one-time-use back table) attending medical personnel typically place a sterile drape over the back table. Hand tools and other equipment and supplies can then be placed atop the drape without contaminating those artifacts.
Some back tables have multiple tiers to provide greater surface area without increasing the back table's required floor space requirements. Specially-designed drapes are available to cover each horizontal surface of such a multi-tier back table. While effective for the intended purpose when properly deployed, such multi-tier back-table drapes can be confusing to properly deploy. Confusion in these regards, in turn, increases the risk that the technicians deploying the drape will inadvertently contaminate a surface of the drape that should remain clean.
Prior art approaches in these regards also typically always require at least two technicians to properly deploy the drape. This requirement can divert scarce personnel from other important tasks (thus extending cycle time for the procedure) and/or can cause more people to be assigned in support of a given procedure than might otherwise be necessary.
Accordingly, prior art approaches can pose risk to compromising the sterility of the operating environment and/or can contribute to increased overhead costs for supported procedures.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.